Why?
by quinnmarieshep
Summary: Why couldn't they listen to her? Beginning of ME3 story starring Quinn Shepard and Kaidan Alenko
1. Why?

Gone. They were all gone. Why? Why couldn't they have listened to her warnings, why hadn't they believed her? Maybe, maybe then they could have saved more people, have Earth evacuated, anything! Instead, they all just sat around on their asses and did nothing, and now innocents are going to pay. Children like Austin, the little boy who loved visiting her, listening to her crazy stories and dreaming to be like the great Commander Quinn Shepard. She watched Austin and more die, and she could nothing about it.

She felt the hot tears roll down her face. _No, no I'm not crying. Not in front of him._ She shut her eyes tight. _Stay strong Quinn, come on you can do it. Breathe, just-_

"Shepard?" his voice was soft, softer than a whisper and sweeter than candy. She took a shaky breath. "Quinn?" there it was again. That soft sweet voice that was more addictive than anything. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. His whiskey colored eyes were full of concern, she felt more of the tears fall from her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

That's when her resolve came crashing down. All the years of having that wall around her heart, only one person ever got through, and after the incident on Horizon, she put that wall back up, but she made sure it was stronger, and here he was, still able to rip that wall down without even trying.

She sobbed into his chest, violently shaking, but he held onto her tight, whispering soft nonsense words that had no real meaning. For the first time since she woke up, no scratch that, since Horizon, she felt safe, warm, loved. She felt as if she knew for certain they were going to win this, and then suddenly without any warning, he let go, like she didn't need him.

She groaned in protest, "Kaidan, please don't—"

"Nice to see you're alright Commander," his voice was cold, angry, noting like it was just five minutes ago. He turned around and walked away, his shoulders tense, his walking quick but choppy. She felt cold again, lost. She had no idea what brought this sudden change of attitude was about, and she didn't care at the moment.

She had a galaxy to save.

Quinn wiped the tears from her eyes and headed for the bridge.


	2. Hope

_A/N Chapter two! So sorry that it took this long, had a little writer's block.. :/, any way, this chapter is in first-person point-of-view, I wanted to try something different, and challenge myself a little bit. Constructive criticism is always welcomed Enjoy!_

Walking towards the elevator, James caught up with me, and started asking a million questions.

"What the hell's going on? Where's Anderson?" _Damn, this kid is just absolutely FULL of questions_ I thought.

"He isn't coming, he stayed behind to help, and we're going to the Citadel for the Council's help," I answered calmly. James started to yell.

"What? We aren't staying to help? Why not? What kind of hero leaves her own kind to die, while she goes to talk to god damn POLITICIANS for help?"

I stopped dead in my spot and turned slowly around. I tried to take a deep breath, but instead, all the anger, all the disappointment, all the hurt, came pouring out of me.

"Vega!" I yelled. He stopped talking, "Shut the hell up! You don't think I want to stay and fight and protect everyone I can? Do you think I enjoy watching innocent people die for nothing? We aren't going to win this war, unless everyone works together, so if you wanna go back to Earth, and be useless, that's fucking dandy, I don't care, get a ride back at the Citadel, BUT DON'T YOU DARE, ACCUSE ME, OF ABANDONING THESE PEOPLE! THAT I AM LEAVING BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO STAY AND FIGHT, BECAUSE GOD DAMMIT THAT'S ALL I WANT TO DO! I DIED FOR THIS CAUSE, AND WAS BROUGHT BACK TO FIGHT AND DO WHAT EVER I CAN AND PROTECT WHO EVER I CAN, AND I'M GOING TO START BY GOING TO THE COUNCIL FOR HELP!" My throat burned from yelling, and I felt the tears falling from my eyes. I looked at James. He looked utterly shocked. His mouth was agape, and his eyes were the size of saucers.

I turned around and headed for the elevator, the shuttle bay was dead silent, and the crew stared at me shocked. I saw Kaidan standing by the elevator, he looked shocked and confused, and then I remembered, _he's never heard me yell like that before…_I felt so ashamed, so embarrassed. I walked into the elevator, and he followed me in. I pressed the top button, the one that took me straight to my room. It then became awkwardly silent as we stood in the middle of the elevator not looking at each other.

I took a deep breath and looked up at him. _I've missed you so much Kaidan, why does the world have to be so cruel to us?_ He must have sensed my eyes on him, he turned and looked at me, and his eyes were filled with the same gaze I saw in the shuttle bay, not ten minutes earlier.

"Kaidan.." I whispered softly, "I-i didn't mean.." he pressed his fingers to my lips softly. I felt a single tear slide down my cheek, and he brushed it away. "I'm so sorry, please forgive me. I tried so hard, but they wouldn't listen, please believe me, th-they didn't trust me, please.." I sobbed. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest, and for the second time in less than fifteen minutes, the man I never stopped loving, the man who I knew didn't love me the way I did him, comforted me.

I don't know how long we stood there, him comforting me and me sobbing into his shoulder, but by the time the elevator had reached my room, I had somewhat calmed down, but we stayed in the elevator, neither of us moving. I felt the same warmth and safe feeling I had felt down in the shuttle bay.

I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. I could feel his breath on my cheek, and his lips were so close to mine. It was so tempting, and it would be so easy to just lift my lips slightly and kiss him. He must have been feeling the same, because he slowly and softly pressed his lips on to mine.

I froze. I knew we shouldn't be doing this, not when there was so much we needed to talk about. He must have sensed my hesitation, and he started to pull away._ If I leave myself a way out, I may never get him back again… _His lips disconnected with mine, but only for second. I wrapped my hands around the back of neck, and pulled his face closer to mine.

I kissed him with all the love and the want that was collected over three years just for him. His kiss was possessive, but filled with the same amount of passion. He pushed me up against the wall of the elevator, lifting me and I let my legs wrapped around his waist. We kissed each other until we were breathless.

"Kaidan…"

"Quinn…"

The next kiss was slower, full of love, longing, and, hope. The hope of a future.

A future for us.


End file.
